Lessons Learned From the Carmel Fire

My comment from the related Facebook thread.

The real going forward Lesson Learned is unsurprisingly an old one. It takes 72 hours to get a response to a disaster going beyond the local level. The US refused to learn that after Katrina, although it was built into the National Disaster Response Plan the media had no problem putting out the lie that the response was unusual because Bush was a Republican and thousands of blacks were being left to die. Here even though Israel is much smaller we saw again that when local resources are overwhelmed it take the government three days to improvise a plan and marshal resources. We always need the equipment and trained people at the local level to respond immediately and while it is good to have major assets, such as the military, available for release at a higher level, we must know that each higher level means a delay and when something new is needed, like bringing in aircraft from other countries, it will take three days.

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In a related note in a Jerusalem Post thread I saw, "Turkish official: J'lem Ankara in contact to rebuild ties."

Al Hura reports that Israel agreed to apologize for flotilla incident and pay reparations; Netanyahu refuses to comment on bilateral ties.

In reply I left the following "Talkback."

It is a feature in Islam to cast arguments using a rhetorical trick. They repeatedly attempt to give both sides of the argument and then say, "So you can see that even they agree that in a True Religion it is just as we say." The only way to handle this is to refuse to be drawn into the delusion. If the Turks attempt to break an Israeli blockade, which is legal under the laws of war, then the offending vessel should be disables and towed away.

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As a side note, the Jerusalem Post has the worst website that I have seen in years. It is almost impossible to link to it, use it in social media, or even comment on it.